Questions and Answers

Jetta Brakes Q. Hi, I am currently thinking about buying a 1995 VW Jetta GLX. A friend told me that in older VW's that had 4 wheel disc brakes, the parking brake would sometimes lock the rear calipers. The only way to fix it is to remove the rear wheels and fix it manually.

The car that I am looking at has ABS, and I assume that it has 4 wheel discs. Do you know if this is still an issue with VW parking brakes or has it been fixed in the newer models? Also, the car has the VR6 motor, which I know is not as common as the 4 cylinder models. Does that make it harder to find parts when they are needed?

Thank You,
James

A. The main cause of the parking brake to lock the rear calipers is non-use. If you don't use the parking brake the lever tends to become really sticky and the return spring is not able to move the brake lever to the full release position. If this happens, then you do need to remove the calipers and free everything up. This is more common on cars with automatic transmissions where the tendency is to put the car in Park and not use the brake. people with manual transmissions tend to use the parking brake more, so they have less problems with this. This is not only a problem with VW's, but any car with rear disc brakes.

While the V-6 is not all that common, I don't see any unusual problems locating parts for it. You should be able to get what you need at any foreign car parts store within a day if it's not a stock item. VW dealers will have more parts in stock at any given time, but you will pay more for them. I would not let parts availability be a consideration in buying the car or not.

Additional Information provided courtesy of ALLDATA